Starting Work On The Custom Reservoir:

I have determined the shape and design but, I needed to figure out the actual size that the reservoir will be. I ended up going with about an inch and a half thick. As with all my acrylic stuff I cut out I make templates first and then use my scroll saw to cut out the pattern.



I've got the majority of the mount finished and about a half of the reservoir cut out. Once I have all the pieces I will glue them all together, drill and tap the threads for the water cooling fittings.




Painting 140mm 3D Printed Fan Grill & IKONiK Lettering:

Now that I've had time to finish sanding and priming the grill and lettering I have started doing some test painting. I will start out with a black and sterling silver combination. This will be my first time working with sterling silver paint so I hope it lives up to my expectations. The first few layers went down well on the main grill.

When the rest of my fans arrive from Be Quiet I will test mount everything. Im also going to try a new 2–tone paint job on some of the fans so it'll be neat to see what they look like together.








New Sponsor: EVGA

I am very happy to announce that EVGA has decided to sponsor the IKONiK case mod with all kinds of sweet hardware.. I will update the list with the exact parts that will be used. Ive been a big fan of EVGA for quite sometime and I'm excited for the new hardware to arrive. I will also update and take pictures once the new gear arrives at the shop.

Update: 3D Printed 140mm Fan Grill & Lettering

I was finally able to mockup the 3D fan grill and IKONiK lettering. This was a prototype I did to test colors and scaling. Everything came out great and it'll look much better when the letters are actually correctly spaced/mounted.




3D Printed & Stainless Steel Cover For The Breakout Box:

The Dark Base Pro 900 comes with a breakout box mounted on the back side of the motherboard tray. It has eight fan connectors and two LED strip connectors. The LED strips are controlled via a switch in the front of the case to change the color of the RGB LED strips.

The fans can be controlled via the motherboard and software by connecting your mobo to the breakout box. I personally love this feature as it is super convenient. I also want to see if you can control your pump with the pulse width modulation output. It would be an ideal set up if I could control radiator fans and my pump via the breakout box Be Quiet has included.

Even though the breakout box really isn't seen due to it being mounted on the backside of the motherboard tray; I still want to make it look awesome. I came up with the design for a cover by freehand sketching ideas on a notepad and translating it into a CAD design. Once I felt like I had a winner I used hard stock to make a template to scale.

The main cover piece is made out of ABS and the inner piece will be made out of 1 1/2 mm thick stainless steel stock. The process from 3D print to painted piece was exceptionally long on this piece due to the high quality result I was after. The process is very similar to the one I detailed earlier in the log. The main difference is that I used dissolvable support material when printing this piece and the clean up/paint prep process was more intense. More than likely I will cut some vinyl to let me know where the inputs and outputs for the breakout box are. This will make things easier down the road when swapping cables around. Due to the bolts going through the PCB I will use nylon washers for the 10mm standoffs.






Update: Scratch Built Reservoir & Mount

I now have all the pieces for the reservoir cut, sanded and filed. I will polish the pieces after I have the input, output and fill ports threaded. I cant decide if I should put the ports on the side or top of the reservoir. Ive also started working my way towards finer grit sandpaper for the edges.

Gonna follow this one. This is gonna be gud.

gendreaur
Gonna follow this one. This is gonna be gud.

Thank you and I'm glad to hear your along for the ride.

Envious Mods

gendreaur
Gonna follow this one. This is gonna be gud.

Thank you and I'm glad to hear your along for the ride.

 
I wouldn't miss it for the world. 
 
You see "Classified Demon" ? 

Continues to look great

Optical Drive Bay Removal:

One of my favorite parts about this case is the modularity. It allows you to move, change or remove any of the pieces you want. They all have removable bolts versus pop rivets found on most cases. It only took about 10 minutes or less to remove the optical drive bays. Im sure this time would have been more like 5 minutes but I tend to look at the design of things when I take them apart. The two front bay covers come off in a matter of seconds and the 3rd fan is easily bolted into place. Be Quiet did a good job of anticipating wiring routes which allows you to cleanly wire the fans.

Stock Fan Arrangement & Optical Bays Mounted:


3rd Fan Added & Optical Bays Removed:



Custom Vinyl Decals For 140mm PureWings 3 Fans:

I decided it was time to try out a design to replace the decals on the front 3–140mm PureWings fans. This isn't something that makes a huge statement but, its one of those small details that will bring everything together in the end. The plan is to mount a 420mm radiator on the inside and I also have some neat ideas for painting these fans that I will detail later on.

I downloaded the font used for the IKONiK logo onto my laptop so that I could generate a cut file for my vinyl cutter. In order to determine the size needed I used my digital calipers to measure the space available. I could have just removed the stock decals and placed the IKONiK decal but, it doesn't look as good as it would if I re-cut a new black, blank circle. It adds some time and steps to the process but, its worth it in my opinion.

Once I had everything cut I added the white IKONiK letters to the black circles and prepped the fans for installation. Proper placement for the vinyl is always the trickiest part. It requires you to take lots of measurements so that each decal is centered and laid out correctly.

gendreaur

Envious Mods

gendreaur
Gonna follow this one. This is gonna be gud.

Thank you and I'm glad to hear your along for the ride.

 
I wouldn't miss it for the world. 
 
You see "Classified Demon" ? 

Thanks and I haven't yet but, I'll make sure to check it out.

rjohnson11
Continues to look great

Thank you very much. I really appreciate it!!

Rear Addition: (IO/PCI-e Cover)

Ive been wanting to make some sort of cover for the back of a build for quite sometime now. This is one of those ideas thats been floating around my head for quite sometime now. I wanted something that looks stylish while still serving a purpose.

A combination of aluminum and acrylic will be used to get the shape and depth I'm looking for. The design I put together in sketchup, did just that. The cover allows air circulation through the rear fans and organizes all the ugly wiring. An LED strip has also been added which allows you to see where all the plug ins are on the back of the case.

Ive dry fit the rough cut and test painted pieces. I will make sure to update the build log as I start to build the bottom section






Be Quiet Fan Arrival: (The 1st Set Of Silent Wings 3 in The U.S.)

The new fans from Be Quiet arrived at the shop today. This is the first set of the new Silent Wings 3 fans in the United States. I have received 4 of the 140mm PWM versions and 2 of the 120mm standard versions. Below I've taken a few pictures showing their arrival through to the unboxing.

The new fans have a lot of innovative features that I've never seen before. They come with different mounting options that make every fit; a perfect fit. They come with rubberized mounts or mounts that use a push pin to lock them in. The nice part about the push pins is that there is no need for bolts. Installation is quick and painless. These options are perfect for using them on a radiator, heatsink or case mounting. I will be using some in the case and others for radiators.

I also want to thank Be Quiet for sending me the latest gear they have to offer.

Silent Wings 3 Fans Arrival:



Unboxing The New Fans:



SilentWings 3 In The Wild: (120 & 140mm versions)